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Packers-Redskins: The good, the bad, and the ugly

By Jason Woodmansee

The Good: First and foremost, it was a win. As London Fletcher said, "This isn't a game we would have won a year ago, a month ago or maybe even two weeks ago." The Redskins may be terribly inconsistent, but they are finding ways to win and make big plays. It was also great to see Brandon Banks and Anthony Armstrong perform well -- it’s been a while since the Redskins actually had good young players. And, to top it all off, the Cowboys lost.

The Bad: The offense. Outside of those aforementioned big plays, the offense looked pathetic. They couldn’t run the ball. They couldn’t protect McNabb. Donovan was overthrowing receivers when he wasn’t hitting them in the feet. After the Texans game, I wrote that the Redskins offense was finally going to break the ten years of struggling, but it looks like I was off on that.

The Ugly: The uniforms. Burgundy jerseys with WHITE pants at home? Now, my wife disdainfully calls me “a woman” when I start talking about the players’ clothes, but the lack of consistency in the uniform department drives me nuts. It was simple during the Gibbs years (you know, when they were winning). The Redskins wore white jerseys & burgundy pants all the time. The only exception was when they went to Dallas, the only other team in the NFL who wore their white jerseys at home. Forcing the other team to wear their “unlucky jerseys” added to the rivalry a bit. As the years went on, more teams starting wearing white jerseys at home, often for warm games earlier in the year. The Eagles are especially guilty of this (copycats!).

Then, during the Zorn era, like many things, the uniform wheels came off. They started mixing in burgundy jerseys at home. They wore white pants with white jerseys. If we were going to save two things from the Zorn era in a time capsule to tell our children how terrible it was, my choices would be the “swinging gate” fake field goal against the Giants and the appalling burgundy on burgundy uniforms.

One of the many things that fans liked about Bruce Allen taking over the GM job (you know, besides the actual competence) was that he understood the tradition of the Redskins. His switch to the burgundy/gold uniform was almost universally hailed. So why switch to white pants? It could be superstition, as they beat the Eagles wearing the white pants, but why didn’t they wear the gold pants against the Eagles? Other have suggested that they couldn’t wear the gold pants because of the Packers’ gold pants. There were five games on Sunday where both teams both wore white pants, and they didn’t seem to have trouble (with the possible exception of Jake Delhomme). I demand an inquiry into this situation. In fact, since it is Washington, I demand a Congressional hearing. What about it, Congressman Shuler?

I coulnd't agree with you more about the uniforms. LOVE the gold pants, don't undertand why we have not seen them worn consistently, and with both burgundy and white tops. Why wear them at home against Dallas and Houston but not wear them again.
Tell Bruce to stop teasing us and go full time with the gold pants already.

Donovan McNabb's play in this game was an absolute microcosm of his career in Philly: brilliant at times with clutch big play passes down the field and then absolutely awful with one low throw after another. Get used to it -- he is not going to change. You take the good with the bad and hope the defense makes some big stops.

Donovan McNabb's play in this game was an absolute microcosm of his career in Philly: brilliant at times with clutch big play passes down the field and then absolutely awful with one low throw after another. Get used to it -- he is not going to change. You take the good with the bad and hope the defense makes some big stops.

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